Why is that when you’re feeling down, things often seem to get worse.  I’ve been there before and also heard from many friends when they seem to be having a spree of really bad luck. Lately, I started to notice a pattern to all this misery.  When you’re exhausted, or depressed, or in pain, you are prone to make more mistakes, get hurt or react badly.  It’s the worst time for more grief since you’re already feeling bad, but that’s when things tend to spiral downward.

My mom always tells me that positive attitudes yield positive results (though she uses a lot more words to explain that).  I listen but sometimes get annoyed at the over-simplification since you don’t want your pain dismissed when you’re going through a difficult situation.  However, I think I get it now on a different level.  It isn’t just about always believing in the best results, it’s about being in a positive and healthy state of mind.  Bad things will still happen sometimes even if you try to think they won’t.  But, they will happen more if you’re jittery because you haven’t slept or distracted because you’re sad or you overreact because you’re in pain, etc.  It is in these ‘negative’ states of mind and body when more bad things happen and suddenly you feel like everything is going wrong.

The way to get to the ‘positive’ place is not just to tell yourself everything will be wonderful, since maybe it will or maybe it won’t.  The way is to get the rest you may need so that you’re not so frazzled, or get some medication for what ails you, or eat some healthy food because you might be hungry.  It is to get yourself back to a healthy, strong and more normal you.  This is when you can handle things better and not get overwhelmed by problems.  Sometimes you do need to also talk yourself into being more confident or less worried so that your mind is also at it’s best place.  It often helps to reach out for support as well.

So get yourself to your positive place and it will yield positive results.  Take the ‘me time’ you need to get yourself strong and stable before going forward.  When you don’t and you keep going with a compromised mind and body, things often don’t have the best results.  There is no shame in taking breaks and caring for yourself.  In fact, it’s the only way you will be able to properly take care of everything else!